Raven
Rachel Roth is the human name for Raven, of the Teen Titans. She rarely actually uses it. Raven is the multiple-resurrected half daughter of Trigon. She is an engimatic and somewhat sarcastic spellcaster of the Titans. She is trying to balance out her origins as the daughter of an interdimensional demon with her life as a heroine on Earth. She has been known to be reserved in emotion, but fiercely loyal to her companions. Background A young woman, Angela Roth, had ran away from home and joined a cult. The cult was inexperienced in rituals, but attempted to summon the Devil. What was summoned was far worse. The physical embodiment of an entire realm's dark emotions, an inter-dimensional demon of the highest order, with strength and power beyond human understanding. It called itself Trigon. Trigon took Angela to be his bride under false pretenses, impregnated her, and then abandoned her, knowing that once the child was born he could call his offspring to his side in his quest to destroy all of existence. Trigon then influenced the mystical priests of Azarath, an interdimensional realm of peace existing between the planes of known reality, to find Angela and take her in to Azarath, knowing that the priests would care for the mother of his soon-to-be-born child. The priests did as expected, locating Angela and taking her to Azarath, where she was renamed Arella, the Messenger Angel. Azar, the spiritual leader of Azarath and the High Magistrate knew that, should the child of Trigon be allowed to grow on Earth, the existence of the child would threaten all life on the planet, as well as the universe. Shortly after being brought to Azarath, Arella gave birth to a daughter. From the very moment of her birth, the daughter of Trigon changed the reality of Azarath forever. The emerald skies of Azarath turned black as death. The sweet smell of Gossamer became the pungent stench of brimstone. A society of pacifists came to know fear. The name given to Arella's child, this potential harbinger of doom, was Raven. Azar herself took it upon herself to personally raise Raven. She was aware that Raven possessed the power and ability to freely control and manipulate emotions and that the only way to safeguard the child was to deny Raven the power and ability to feel any emotion. It was feared that if Raven was allowed to feel any emotion that was too strong, it could overwhelm her and change her into a demon like her father. She mentored Raven for ten years in this manner, suppressing emotion, before Azar died of old age. Before her passing, she passed the duty of continuing Raven's education down to her mother, Arella. Over the years, Raven felt her father's dark influence slowly grow inside of her. When she was fourteen years old, she entered the Temple of Azarath, opened the Great Door to the Limbo realm that separated Azarath from other dimensional realms and planets, and encountered her father Trigon for the first time. This meeting prompted Raven to manifest her soul self for the very first time - that part of herself that she inherited from her father. After her 16th birthday Raven then fled Azarath and went to Earth in search of help to deal with Trigon, for she learned that Trigon intended to invade Azarath. Raven truly understood the danger that Trigon posed to all life and vowed to stop him. Raven initially approached the Justice League, but was refused on the advice of Zatanna, who sensed Raven's demonic parentage. Desperate for assistance, she reformed the new Teen Titans, consisting of Robin (now Nightwing), Starfire, Beast Boy (Changeling), Cyborg, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and herself. Raven, with the Teen Titans, returned to Azarath to plead with the priests to help defend their own realm, but the priests refused, upholding their pacifistic beliefs. Trigon himself managed to pierce the boundaries of Azarath and was prepared to lay waste to it when Raven offered herself up as a bargaining chip, agreeing to go with him and take her role as his daughter in exchange for the sparing of Azarath and Earth. Trigon agreed, but secretly schemed to return to Azarath to see to its destruction. The Teen Titans refused to let Raven sacrifice herself, and again pleaded with the priests of Azarath for help. Finally, Raven's mother Arella relented and led them to the Great Door, accompanying them on a journey through it to Trigon's home dimension. Once there, Arella, Raven and the Titans fought Trigon, succeeding in sealing him in an interdimensional prison, with Arella remaining behind to act as warden to Trigon's prison to ensure he would never return. However, because Trigon wasn't truly destroyed, his influence upon Raven continued. There were several times where Raven almost lost control, but was able to restrain herself. This was an indication that Trigon himself was slowly gaining power, despite his imprisonment. Finally, he gained enough power to breach dimensions, entering into Azarath with a host of winged demons and laying waste to everything and everyone, leaving few survivors, including Arella. In the process, Trigon finally overwhelms his daughter and possesses Raven on Earth. The Teen Titans had no choice but to battle Raven. Trigon's demonic influence led to the Titans killing her to prevent the world's destruction. Upon Raven's apparent death, the displaced souls of Azarath were able to possess her and use Raven as a channel to kill Trigon with a beam of purifying light. After this battle, Raven rose from the ashes, purged of Trigon's evil, and vanished. After Raven's resurrection and disappearance, Arella went on a search of the world, looking for her missing daughter. Mother and daughter were reunited, but then both were captured by the Church of Blood, who were followers of Trigon. The Church of Blood used Raven to control Richard Grayson, Nightwing at the time, as part of Brother Blood's plan of resurrection. The Titans were able to rescue both Raven and Arella and prevent Brother Blood's return. After this, Raven started to wear a white version of her cloak, to signify her freedom from Trigon's influence. During this 'Second Life' Raven allowed herself to feel emotions. After being free to feel, she found that she was not only able to sense emotions in others, but also control emotions. She learned to control this power only after unintentionally making Nightwing believe that he loved Raven when Raven thought she loved him. Raven was later kidnapped by the Wildebeest Society, which was led by former Titan Jericho. The souls of Azarath, tainted by contact with Trigon, took over Jericho and launched a plan to find suitable host bodies for the souls to possess to live again. Jericho returned to the ruins of Azarath and erected a base of operations there, kidnapping members of the Titans and bringing them back there to perform the transference. The souls possessed Raven, who became an evil doppelganger of her father. In order to save her daughter, Arella and Danny Chase, along with the power of Azar's soul within Arella, sacrificed themselves to purge Raven of the souls, purifying them in the process. However, this purging was short-lived. Some time later, another version of Raven appeared, possessed by her evil conscience. She attempted to implant Trigon's seed into new bodies. She interrupted the wedding of Nightwing and Starfire, implanting a seed of Trigon into Starfire. However, instead of corrupting Starfire, Raven actually implanted the soul of the good Raven. This caused Starfire to cancel the wedding to help Raven, which mainly consisted of leaving Earth for a time to escape from the evil Raven. The Titans were able to defeat Raven, but only with the help of the Phantasm, a conglomeration of Danny Chase, Arella and the souls of Azarath. Raven had returned later, still evil, to destroy her good self still within Starfire. However, the Titans were able to reduce this dark form of Raven to ash, freeing the good part of Raven from her father's demonic influence. The good Raven was then instilled into a new golden spirit body. As a spirit, Raven roamed the earth. She was in search of a place for her to belong when Brother Blood came to claim her. Her spirit was placed into the body of a teenage girl by the Church of Blood, effectively resurrecting the 23-year-old Raven into a 16-year-old body. This was done so that Brother Blood could marry Raven and fulfill a prophesy that would result in Armageddon. A new incarnation of the Teen Titans interrupted the wedding and Raven forced the cult to escape. She then joined the new team of the Teen Titans and enrolled at a high school, taking the name of Rachel Roth in honor of her mother. Some time after being to experience the joys of high school, coupled with a new-found appreciation for all that has been done for her, Raven decided to make a pilgrimage back to Azarath. Her intention was to pay her respects to the people that raised her and protected her from her demonic father for as long as they could. While Raven was away, the world she knew changed. New heroes appeared, as if from an alternate universe, as well as new places. When Raven returned, there were new sights, new experiences, and new people to discover. What she knew was still there, but now there is more. And Raven, reborn into a world that has been reborn itself, is poised to make the most of her third chance at life. Personality Introvert: When losing control of your emotions could mean transforming into a demon and wiping out existence, one tends to avoid crowds. Raven's introverted nature has been instilled in her since birth. Taught to suppress her emotions and approach with pure logic, Raven found it easier to simply avoid situations that would cause stress. If the choice comes down to studying or partying, Raven would go study on her own. It is not that she wouldn't go to a party. She just finds it more comfortable not to. Calculating: It takes discipline and planning to keep the light and dark sides of Raven's soul in check. Raven knows that she has the power within her to do practically anything, yet she also knows that tapping into that power makes her extremely vulnerable to potential corruption. As a result, each and every move is measured, every consideration taken before Raven takes action. Loss of control leads to dire circumstancescircumstances Raven is more than willing to avoid. Sarcastic: Everyone needs to be able to let off some steam. Raven's method of stress relief is sarcasm. Intelligence combined with quick thinking has honed Raven's tongue to be rather sharp when she wishes it to be. Her remarks can be rather cutting or quite harmless, depending on the target. Friends, enemies, perfect strangersno one is save from the sardonic commentary should Raven feel the need to express herself in that manner. Gothic: Pale skin, jet black hair, propencity to dress all in black and an interdimensional demon for a father? That's a pretty sound formula for creating a goth. Raven isn't the bright and cheerful type. She is dark. She is moody. She studies the occult, as she did when growing up in the Temple of Azarath. She knows others see her as a goth type, and she has no intention on correcting them. After all, they are right. Because of this, Raven identifies with the Goth sub-culture. Loyal: Raven is loyal to her friends , who she sees as family. She knows that her friends would do anything for her, even die for her, and she is more than willing to do the same for them. She literally takes on the pain of others when she heals and she was willing to sacrifice herself to her father to save the homes that she loved. Once a person has won Raven over as a friend, Raven will be a friend to them for as long as they remain trustworthy. Logs *(TV: 2013-03-19 - Presidential Assassination Averted) *2014-01-12 - SDR: Titans Takedown the Oregon Newt Facility - The west coast facility falls to the Titans led by Nightwing, accompanied by a couple others. *2014-01-18 - SDR - Friends in Dark Places - Starfire shines a light in Raven's moment of darkness *2014-01-19 - SDR: Èmó in Chinatown - Starfire and a demonic Raven discuss recent events with Nocturne over some Chinese food in Chinatown *2014-04-24 - We All Wear Masks - Arsenal, Raven and Starfire encounter the amoral Asgardians attempting to pilfer a mysterious mask. *2014-07-01 - Runaways and Ravens - When the moon hits your eye, like a zombie pizza pie, that's, Amora! *2014-11-11 - The Dark Lady Demands Nachos - The child Supergirl expresses her displeasure and kidnaps people. There is too much. Just read it. *2015-07-21 - A Picture is Worth - Post-hangover, Leah whips up a present for Kara. Raven ducks out for dilly bars. *2016-10-31 - Bad Ending - Dracula attacks, on Halloween. Not everyone gets away this time. Category:DC Feature Category:DC Hero Category:San Francisco Category:DC Taken